Abstract

This paper proposes that the territory of Patagonia-Aysen (Chile) is not naturally a peripheral area but - instead- the result of a historical-geographical production that constructed it in a peripheral spatiality. That hypothesis is sustained on the following question: Is it possible that the territory of Patagonia-Aysen thinks its peripheral condition based on physical and political criteria, ignoring the discursive frameworks that these criteria use to define this border condition? From this perspective, it is important to pay attention at the production processes of geographic representations that arise in specific temporal contexts. One of these discourses, purpose of this text, is the discourse of development from the conservation and protection of nature that ends up becoming a new form of colonization for the region. Investigating in the foundations of this current territorial discourse is the main focus of the research presented in this article.